…if you are furious about this latest domestic terrorist act that has killed 19 innocent children in this country, along with 2 teachers.
Raise your hand…
…if you feel that this mass shooting, along with all others, is government-sanctioned by way of their failure to act.
Raise your hand…
…if the phrase “thoughts and prayers” coupled with an obvious intent to maintain the status quo makes you want to vomit.
Raise your hand…
…if you have tried to explain that you don’t want to take everyone’s guns away, just the ones that can fire 45 rounds per minute, which have no legitimate private use unless you are in the midst of a zombie freakin’ apocalypse.
Raise your hand…
…if you are stunned by gun advocates’ utter selfishness and refusal to absorb international statistics that prove that reasonable gun restrictions prevent the mass slaughter of children.
Raise your hand…
…if you refuse to vote for a politician who gets money from the NRA, because that person demonstrates that he or she puts that greed ahead of the lives and safety of the people she or he would be elected to represent.
Raise your hand…
…if you are fed up with a government that refuses to listen to the majority of us, especially with regard to gun restrictions, women’s rights, health care and the environment.
Raise your hand…
…if you see blood on the hands of every politician who refuses to make changes after expressing deep sympathy for the parents who will never see their children again.
Raise your hand…
…if you are profoundly tired and/or depressed and/or feeling helpless.
Raise your hand…
…if you are increasingly ashamed of congress’ inability to act on our behalf rather than in their own financial best interests.
Raise your hand…
…if you are horrified by the ever-increasing bias of the supreme court.
Raise your hand…
…if you believe that a political party that supports the overthrow of a legitimately elected president should be stripped of its power.
Raise your hand…
…if you believe that wealth should be taxed at a much higher rate.
Raise your hand…
…if you cannot and will not support fascism in any form.
Raise your hand…
…if you are tired of being scared, disappointed, and bitter.
Raise your hand…
…if you are disgusted by the utter lack of consequences for blatantly criminal acts, even as you watch other people get imprisoned for absurd reasons.
Raise your hand…
…if you struggle every day to not become cynical and sedentary.
Raise your hand…
…if you think that those who wish to suppress history and encourage censorship have an evil, racist agenda.
Raise your hand…
… if you are tired of decision makers who think that islands float, that snowballs prove there’s no global warming, that women can’t get pregnant if “legitimately” raped, that wind turbines cause cancer, that not all workers deserve a living wage, that we all don’t deserve the same access to affordable healthcare, that women should submit to their husbands, that Jewish space lasers actually exist, and that all homosexuals are automatically pedophiles and all immigrants are automatically violent criminals.
Raise your hand…
… if people who continue to vote for such politicians scare you.
Raise your hand…
…if you are sick and tired of gerrymandering for any political party, and think that all districts should be shaped as squares or rectangles, with 90 degree angles, with the exception of state boarders and coastlines, with their size adjusted by number of voters in the area, and that what party someone registers for should not be allowed to be taken into consideration.
Raise your hand…
…if you believe that the electoral college is an outmoded system that not only doesn’t serve us well, but also is harmful to this country. One person, one vote. We have the technology.
And most of all, raise your hand…
…if you’re feeling trapped in a f***ed up, theocratic, ignorance-worshiping, mentally ill, selfish, money-grubbing and utterly brainwashed society that is increasingly run by criminals, fascists and liars.
SPEAK UP AND VOTE…
…for every cause you believe to be just, and in every single election in which you are qualified to vote, no matter how insignificant it may seem or how inconvenient the powers that be make it for you to exercise that right.
Do it for the lives of your children. Do it for your community. Do it to stamp out ignorance and hate. Do it for the planet. Do it to preserve whatever shred of compassion and hope and optimism and good will you still manage to possess.
Do it so that all this sh** will stop.
Because you are not alone in knowing that it has to stop.
What follows is a list of American cities or counties where mass shootings have occurred SO FAR in 2022 ALONE, most recent first, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Stanwood, Michigan Anniston, Alabama Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Uvalde, Texas North Charleston, SC Cleveland, Ohio Goshen, Indiana Tacoma, Washington Kissimmee, Florida Highland, California New Orleans, Louisiana Chicago, Illinois Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Palo Alto, California Laguna Woods, California Winston Salem, North Carolina Elizabeth City, North Carolina Houston, Texas Amarillo, Texas Buffalo, New York Milwaukee, Wisconsin Hot Springs National Park, AK Chicago, Illinois Saint Louis, Missouri Indianapolis, Indiana Paterson, New Jersey Baltimore, Maryland Chicago, Illinois Chicago, Illinois Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Baltimore, Maryland Brookshire, Texas Detroit, Michigan Tuscaloosa, Alabama Clarkston, Georgia Lexington, Kentucky Garland, Texas Miami, Florida New Orleans, Louisiana Sunnyside, Washington Baton Rouge, Louisiana Cowley (county), Kansas Beaumont, Texas Lafayette, Louisiana Springfield, Ohio Tarpon Springs, Florida North Charleston, SC Atlanta, Georgia Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, Tennessee New Orleans, Louisiana Laurel, Mississippi Bessemer, Alabama Chicago, Illinois Opelousas, Louisiana Biloxi, Mississippi San Antonio, Texas Phoenix, Arizona Birmingham, Alabama Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Lafayette, Indiana Chicago, Illinois Rocky Mount, North Carolina San Bernardino, California Atlanta, Georgia Petersburg, Virginia Cincinnati, Ohio Washington, DC Mountain View, Arkansas Duluth, Minnesota Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Portland, Oregon Furman, South Carolina Sacramento, California Miami, Florida Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Baldwin, Louisiana Columbia, South Carolina Baltimore, Maryland North Las Vegas, Nevada Daingerfield, Texas Syracuse, New York Stockton, California Brooklyn, New York Bronx, New York Baton Rouge, Louisiana Cedar Rapids, Iowa Elgin, Illinois Willowbrook, California Indianapolis, Indiana Washington, DC Miami, Florida Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Covington, Kentucky Hartford, Connecticut Buffalo, New York San Francisco, California Dallas, Texas Sacramento, California Shelby, North Carolina Monroe, Louisiana Colorado Springs, Colorado Shreveport, Louisiana Walterboro, South Carolina Hollister, California Cleveland, Ohio Colorado Springs, Colorado Stockton, California Waterbury, Connecticut Chicago, Illinois Milwaukee, Wisconsin Houston, Texas Austin, Texas Norfolk, Virginia Fayetteville, North Carolina Dumas, Arkansas Madison Heights, Virginia Dallas, Texas Fort Worth, Texas New Iberia, Louisiana Lansing, Michigan Chicago, Illinois Fort Lauderdale, Florida Irvington, New Jersey Irvington, New Jersey Ozark, Alabama Reading, Pennsylvania Chicago, Illinois Rochester, New York Columbia, South Carolina Baltimore, Maryland Autaugaville, Alabama Columbus, Ohio Aurora, Colorado Jacksonville, Florida Knoxville, Tennessee Minneapolis, Minnesota Hazleton, Pennsylvania Louisville, Kentucky Lubbock, Texas Monroe, Louisiana Chester, South Carolina Glendale, Arizona Atlanta, Georgia Las Vegas, Nevada Baltimore, Maryland Sacramento, California Alexandria, Louisiana North Charleston, SC Las Vegas, Nevada Bogalusa, Louisiana Baton Rouge, Louisiana San Antonio, Texas Saint Paul, Minnesota Omaha, Nebraska Des Moines, Iowa Portland, Oregon Mccomb, Mississippi Durham, North Carolina Portland, Oregon Charleston, Missouri Turlock, California Temple Hills, Maryland Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Houston, Texas Miami, Florida Joliet, Illinois Racine, Wisconsin West Hollywood, California Murfreesboro, Tennessee Little Rock, Arkansas Springfield, Missouri Phoenix, Arizona Romeoville, Illinois Fresno, California Wilmington, North Carolina Fort Lauderdale, Florida Las Cruces, New Mexico Corsicana, Texas Blacksburg, Virginia Oroville, California Milwaukee, Wisconsin Raleigh, North Carolina Winter Haven, Florida Augusta, Georgia Saint Louis, Missouri Atlanta, Georgia Bakersfield, California Washington, DC Milwaukee, Wisconsin Inglewood, California Baltimore, Maryland New Orleans, Louisiana Miami, Florida San Antonio, Texas Savannah, Georgia Knoxville, Tennessee Brunswick, Georgia Eugene, Oregon Brooklyn, New York Chicago, Illinois Fresno, California Los Angeles, California Montgomery, Alabama Colorado Springs, Colorado Houston, Texas Jackson, Mississippi Corsicana, Texas San Antonio, Texas Columbia, Missouri Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Kenosha, Wisconsin Peoria, Illinois Dillon, South Carolina South Bend, Indiana Denver, Colorado
The View from a Drawbridge 